Read Digging Hitler's Arctic War : Archaeologies and Heritage of the Second World War German military presence in Finnish Lapland

Digging Hitler's Arctic War : Archaeologies and Heritage of the Second World War German military presence in Finnish Lapland

Oula Seitsonen

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Description:This dissertation discusses the material heritage of the German military presence in Finnish Lapland during the Second World War (WWII), as seen through archaeological and multidisciplinary studies. The Nazi German presence as brothers-in-arms in northern Finland has been a difficult and downplayed issue on multiple levels throughout the post-war decades. This study presents the first wider, problem-oriented and theoretically informed investigation about the archaeologies, materialities and heritage of the German WWII presence. However, even this work barely scratches the surface of this multifaceted subject and sets out future research directions. The experience of WWII in Lapland was different from the war experience elsewhere in Finland. The German troops had the frontal responsibility in Lapland in 1941–1944, and at the height of their military build-up there were more German troops and their multinational prisoners in the area than local inhabitants. After Finland made a cease-fire with the Soviet Union in 1944, a Finno-German Lapland War (1944–1945) broke out between the former brothers-in-arms. Due to the long nation-level downplay of the complex German presence, also the northern Finnish and Sámi war experiences have become side-lined. Accordingly, the German material remains have been treated dismissively as “war junk” littering Lapland’s nature. However, for the locals these were well-known throughout the post-war decades, as active material agents of communal and familial memories, and as part of Lapland’s cultural landscapes.This dissertation has two main focuses. Firstly, I study the Germans’ and their prisoners’ experiences in Lapland during the war through the material remains and archaeological inquiries, and secondly, the ways in which the different stakeholders have signified the traces of war in the post-war decades. The material traces illustrate and highlight in many ways the experiential aspects of the German soldiers’ and their prisoners’ wartime existence in an unfamiliar northern environment. The post-war perceptions of the German material remains underline the social value of these as part of the local long-term heritage and lived-in cultural landscape. Many locals see themselves as custodians of their “own past”, including the WWII legacy, wish to control access and engagement with the sites in their local landscape, and often feel that the authorities neglect their heritage. Thus, the traces of German presence have become one symbol of the continuing north-south confrontations, and the marginalization of the north. These issues tie in with Lapland’s long colonial history. The vast differences in engaging with the German WWII material remains appear to derive from fundamentally different mental templates with which the people perceive the subject and its importance. The people propagating the “clearing” of “war junk” appear to approach the subject, and the landscape, with a “western” gaze, and draw a division between “nature” and “culture” which labels the locals’ historical cultural landscape as a natural wilderness. Conversely, in the northern environmental awareness it is not meaningful to separate “nature” and “culture”, and instead, the landscape and its various layers form a web of relations, which tie together the past, present and future into a cognitively controlled and embodied unity. It appears that the different stakeholders should come to recognize and accept the differing standpoints from which they engage into the discussions, before a fruitful dialogue can be instigated.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Digging Hitler's Arctic War : Archaeologies and Heritage of the Second World War German military presence in Finnish Lapland. To get started finding Digging Hitler's Arctic War : Archaeologies and Heritage of the Second World War German military presence in Finnish Lapland, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
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Description: This dissertation discusses the material heritage of the German military presence in Finnish Lapland during the Second World War (WWII), as seen through archaeological and multidisciplinary studies. The Nazi German presence as brothers-in-arms in northern Finland has been a difficult and downplayed issue on multiple levels throughout the post-war decades. This study presents the first wider, problem-oriented and theoretically informed investigation about the archaeologies, materialities and heritage of the German WWII presence. However, even this work barely scratches the surface of this multifaceted subject and sets out future research directions. The experience of WWII in Lapland was different from the war experience elsewhere in Finland. The German troops had the frontal responsibility in Lapland in 1941–1944, and at the height of their military build-up there were more German troops and their multinational prisoners in the area than local inhabitants. After Finland made a cease-fire with the Soviet Union in 1944, a Finno-German Lapland War (1944–1945) broke out between the former brothers-in-arms. Due to the long nation-level downplay of the complex German presence, also the northern Finnish and Sámi war experiences have become side-lined. Accordingly, the German material remains have been treated dismissively as “war junk” littering Lapland’s nature. However, for the locals these were well-known throughout the post-war decades, as active material agents of communal and familial memories, and as part of Lapland’s cultural landscapes.This dissertation has two main focuses. Firstly, I study the Germans’ and their prisoners’ experiences in Lapland during the war through the material remains and archaeological inquiries, and secondly, the ways in which the different stakeholders have signified the traces of war in the post-war decades. The material traces illustrate and highlight in many ways the experiential aspects of the German soldiers’ and their prisoners’ wartime existence in an unfamiliar northern environment. The post-war perceptions of the German material remains underline the social value of these as part of the local long-term heritage and lived-in cultural landscape. Many locals see themselves as custodians of their “own past”, including the WWII legacy, wish to control access and engagement with the sites in their local landscape, and often feel that the authorities neglect their heritage. Thus, the traces of German presence have become one symbol of the continuing north-south confrontations, and the marginalization of the north. These issues tie in with Lapland’s long colonial history. The vast differences in engaging with the German WWII material remains appear to derive from fundamentally different mental templates with which the people perceive the subject and its importance. The people propagating the “clearing” of “war junk” appear to approach the subject, and the landscape, with a “western” gaze, and draw a division between “nature” and “culture” which labels the locals’ historical cultural landscape as a natural wilderness. Conversely, in the northern environmental awareness it is not meaningful to separate “nature” and “culture”, and instead, the landscape and its various layers form a web of relations, which tie together the past, present and future into a cognitively controlled and embodied unity. It appears that the different stakeholders should come to recognize and accept the differing standpoints from which they engage into the discussions, before a fruitful dialogue can be instigated.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Digging Hitler's Arctic War : Archaeologies and Heritage of the Second World War German military presence in Finnish Lapland. To get started finding Digging Hitler's Arctic War : Archaeologies and Heritage of the Second World War German military presence in Finnish Lapland, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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